by Marc-Oliver FrischThe big DC Comics release in February was… ah, nothing. The biggest news across the publisher’s various imprints were a new creative team on The Spirit, an Astro City special and a new Johnny DC title. Although DC’s average periodical sales recovered slightly from their gigantic January slump, the company’s DC Universe line is basically holding its breath until April’s DC Universe: Zero one-shot kicks off the new event season. At Vertigo, similarly, three new ongoing series are in the pipeline from March through June. And at WildStorm, the WildStorm Universe line is in the process of another revamp until July, while more licensed and creator-owned titles are on the way.

In other words, DC Comics’ entire periodical business is in the middle of a major transitional phase right now, and it’s going to take another six months to get a reasonably good idea where things are heading. See below for the details, and please mind the disclaimers at the end of the column.

Thanks to Milton Griepp and ICv2.com for the permission to use their figures. An overview of ICv2.com‘s estimates can be found here.

The book’s first arc concluded in February, after a measly two-and-a-half years. While All Star Batman seems to have settled into a more moderate decline since returning from its hiatus in July, it’s still not exactly what you’d call a stable performer. Given that it’s a Batman comic by Frank Miller and Jim Lee, in any event, these sales are quite disappointing. The fact that it’s still DC’s top-selling title says more about the current weakness of their overall line than about the book’s own merits.

As always, All Star Batman sales were supported with a 1-for-10 variant cover edition, which means that retailers had to buy ten copies of the regular edition to be able to buy one variant comic.

Justice League of America numbers are slipping again, which suggests that retailers haven’t quite found the right level yet for their orders six months after the departure of superstar writer Brad Meltzer. Historically, these are still very good sales for the book, but DC might want it to bottom out soon.

When the “Thy Kingdom Come” arc co-written by Alex Ross began in October, it brought quite a boost to Justice Society of America sales, but it now seems that retailers overestimated demand for the story. Evidently, the follow-up to 1996’s popular Kingdom Come series isn’t quite the sales draw it was expected to be.

The drop between the two February issues (#12 was late from January) suggests that the book has found its level again, however, and it’s still doing very well. As usual, the book was supported with 1-for-10 variant cover editions.

The “Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes” arc drawn by Gary Frank continues with rock-solid numbers.

But wait, wasn’t there meant to be something else in February? Right: Action Comics Annual #11, the conclusion of the “Last Son” arc drawn by Adam Kubert which should have been out about a year ago. True to form, the book has been pushed back another nine weeks and is now scheduled for April 23, according to the publisher’s website.

Well, at least the numbers have stabilized over the last half year. To be fair upwards of 50,000 units is still a very decent place for a book telling team-up stories which are inconsequential to the title characters’ status quo.

With the boost from the “Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul” crossover gone, Detective Comics is back in a standard decline. It’s still selling at a rather high level historically, as the long-term comparisons show.

Sean McKeever’s Teen Titans doesn’t seem to catch on – retailers are still slashing their orders too fast for comfort.

This doesn’t stop DC from launching a ton of spin-off titles, however. In addition to Teen Titans: Year One and the new Johnny DC book Tiny Titans, we’re getting the miniseries DC Special: Raven and DC Special: Cyborg, as well as the new ongoing series Titans in the next few months.

Now, a year or two ago, an attempt to branch out would have made perfect sense. Right now, though, the sudden explosion of the franchise smacks of overkill, given that the core book has shed a whopping 10,000 units since writer Geoff Johns left back in May.

That’s a pretty clear course correction. Evidently, retailers underestimated the post-“Sinestro Corps War” sales of Green Lantern Corps, if the 4,000 extra units of issue #20 sold in February are any indication. Beginning with #21, the book is tying in with the Alpha Lanterns storyline over in the mother title. These are pretty good numbers all around.

Green Lantern proper was a week late and missed its February shipping date, meanwhile.

Well, ouch. The drop comes in the middle of a storyline, so, as with the increase for issue #670, I’m not sure what to make of it. What’s clear, though, is that something’s not working here: Superman has lost more than 10,000 units in the last six months, and almost 20,000 over the past year.

Ouch again. This book is tanking spectacularly. The Brave and the Bold #10 was the last issue drawn by George Pérez, apparently, so the numbers are unlikely to improve.

To be honest, you can’t blame DC for giving an artist of Pérez’s caliber something else to draw. For whatever reason, people are dropping this book like it was the plague. The year-on-year performance is a disaster by any standard.

Another six-percent drop, at this stage, is not the hallmark of an enthusiastic response. To be fair, sales remain up on the regular level of Outsiders by a few thousand units. Still, as far as relaunches go, the book doesn’t look very good commercially.

In case you’re scratching your head, Booster Gold #0 is part of a linewide DC Universe publishing event called “Zero Hour,” which happened… well, back in 1994. As a special gimmick, the numbering of the company’s superhero titles was turned to zero on the occasion. It’s too good a gimmick to pass up for a book about a time-traveling superhero, obviously.

And, quite amazingly, the gimmick still works in 2008, resulting in a neat little sales increase. Reportedly, Booster Gold #1,000,000 is already in the works.

The February issue was a fill-in, so the gigantic drop doesn’t come as a great surprise. If the new creative team’s arrival in March can’t turn around or at least stop the trend – and I’d say their chances are rather slim – it’ll be interesting to see how DC are going to deal with The Flash.

There’s always the Thor option, of course: Let the property rest for a year or two, take the time to figure out what you want to do with it, and then do a big, focused relaunch. Considering that The Flash has been revamped twice in the last two years and both revamps have been miserable failures, that wouldn’t seem like the worst approach right now, to be frank.

There was another 1-for-10 variant cover edition of issue #5, oddly, resulting in a slight increase. Quite why they used the gimmick for issues #1 through #3 and #5 but not for #4, your guess is as good as mine. It nicely illustrates the effect on sales, at any rate, so lets not look a gift horse in the mouth.

Overall, Green Arrow/Black Canary doesn’t seem to be very successful, either, as far as relaunches go. Issue #5 was the last one promoted with a variant cover edition, so there’s likely going to be another big drop in March.

Legion of Super-Heroes sales are bottoming out again. The book’s numbers under the new creative team are still slightly ahead of the previous level, granted. Nevertheless, it seems that retailers went rather overboard with their enthusiasm for writer Jim Shooter’s arrival.

63 - DEATH OF THE NEW GODS
10/2007: Death of the New Gods #1 of 8 -- 46,670
10/2007: Death of the New Gods #2 of 8 -- 35,681 (-23.6%)
11/2007: Death of the New Gods #3 of 8 -- 32,655 (- 8.5%)
12/2007: Death of the New Gods #4 of 8 -- 31,914 (- 2.3%)
01/2008: Death of the New Gods #5 of 8 -- 30,996 (- 2.9%)
02/2008: Death of the New Gods #6 of 8 -- 30,482 (- 1.7%)

Sales have found their level, apparently. Death of the New Gods remains the highest-selling of the Countdown to Infinite Crisis spin-offs.

Speaking of which, Countdown to Adventure, Countdown to Mystery and Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists all missed their shipping dates in February.

The drop is rather larger than you’d hope for, at this stage, but overall World of WarCraft is still doing very well. The videogame adaptation remains the WildStorm imprint’s top-selling book.

The surprisingly high periodical sales of titles like this one, The Umbrella Academy, The Dark Tower or Buffy the Vampire Slayer are good news for the direct market: They suggest that there’s a considerable influx of new readers from a variety of other entertainment media.

The book has settled into an average limited series decline. Bearing in mind that Salvation Run was one of the publisher’s big announcements last summer, the level it’s selling at is more than a little embarrassing, really.

After missing its January release date, Fables shipped twice in February. Incidentally, that’s the only reason why the average Vertigo single issue still sold above 10,000 units now that Y: The Last Man has concluded.

Through June, the new ongoing series Young Liars, House of Mystery and Madame Xanadu are in the Vertigo pipeline, as well as another American Splendor miniseries.

That’s quite a drop since the last Astro City one-shot special. On the other hand, these are still good numbers for a creator-owned title, and they’re certainly good numbers compared to the bulk of WildStorm’s output.

Crime Bible went through an average limited series decline, despite the awful title and the ugly, barely intelligible cover art. If they’d just called the book 52 Aftermath: The Question, for instance, I’m sure they could have shifted a few units more.

That’s a fairly average third-issue drop. The next few issues are going to be the litmus test for the book’s long-term prospects in the periodical market.

The first three issues of Northlanders were promoted with 1-for-10 variant cover editions, but series writer Brian Wood has suggested that Diamond Comic Distributors – contrary to their usual practice – haven’t included the sales of these editions in their numbers.

Either way, we should have a good idea of the book’s performance once the March numbers are released.

The top-selling WildStorm Universe title is now selling below 15,000. If there’s any point to keep the line around, at this stage, I don’t see it – it doesn’t offer anything the market doesn’t already have in spades from Marvel or DC proper, and the numbers clearly reflect that.

Gen13 is suspiciously absent from the publisher’s solicitations for June. Maybe it’s just taking a month off after writer Simon Oliver’s run concludes with issue #20, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

Six issues in, Infinity Inc. is still in the double-digit drops. If the book makes it past issue #12, I’ll be surprised.

Not unusually, for a Peter Milligan comic, the series is probably a little too off-kilter for the direct market – rather than the superhero team book as which it’s being sold, Infinity Inc. reads more like a comic about a bunch of young people in group therapy who also happen to have superhuman abilities.

The two Vertigo books maintain a slow, steady decline. First-month collection sales have been increasing for both titles, however, and suggest that 100 Bullets and DMZ are the top-selling current Vertigo series in that market, outside of the Fables franchise.

The twice-monthly WildStorm Universe revamp was hit by a delayed second-issue drop in February. It doesn’t make much of a difference, however – people evidently couldn’t care less about the WildStorm Universe as a fictional world.

Given that the book is written by Brian Azzarello, I’d presume Loveless was doing well in the graphic novel market, but unfortunately there’s no evidence for that; first-month sales of its collected editions are in the same area as those of the cancelled The Exterminators, and, like the bulk of Vertigo’s books, it’s nowhere to be seen in the recently leaked numbers for the the book market.

Theoretically, mind you, Loveless collections could be selling reasonably well without registering on any of the available charts. They certainly have to be, if the book wants to stick around: Its periodical sales are still in a free-fall, with no end in sight.

Scalped is another anomaly. According to series writer Jason Aaron, the book is doing well in the collection market. But again, that’s not reflected in any of the available sales figures. The first-month sales of the second Scalped collection, for instance, display a 14% drop compared to those of the first one, which also places it below the latest collection of The Exterminators.

If Scalped collections are selling as well as Aaron suggests – which, as established above, is quite possible – I’d have expected the first-month numbers for the second collection to go up, like they did in the case of DMZ, or at least to stay even.

204 - THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES IN THE 31ST CENTURY (Johnny DC)
04/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #1 -- 13,519
05/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #2 -- 11,121 (-17.7%)
06/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #3 -- 9,252 (-16.8%)
07/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #4 -- 8,236 (-11.0%)
08/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #5 -- 7,681 (- 6.7%)
09/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #6 -- 7,362 (- 4.2%)
10/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #7 -- 7,010 (- 4.8%)
11/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #8 -- 6,886 (- 1.8%)
12/2007: The LoSH in the 31st Century #9 -- 6,777 (- 1.6%)
01/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #10 -- 6,674 (- 1.5%)
02/2008: The LoSH in the 31st Century #11 -- 6,568 (- 1.6%)
----------------
6 months: -14.5%

And here’s the rest of the Vertigo and WildStorm books. Army@Love ended with issue #12, ostensibly with a view to being relaunched later on; given these sales, I’m rather skeptical, though. Crossing Midnight is cancelled with issue #19 – a second collection shipped in February, with first-month sales below 2,000 units.

This leaves The Vinyl Underground and The Un-Men, as far as ongoing titles are concerned. Obviously, things don’t look very encouraging at all for these two books.

The January and February issues were written by series creator Joss Whedon. If Buffy can maintain this sales level – and it certainly looks like the book is bottoming out around the 88k mark – it goes without saying that Dark Horse have every reason to be ecstatic about that.

That’s quite a good start for the Alex Ross vehicle. It handsomely beats the debut of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick-Ass at Marvel’s Icon imprint, for instance. In fairness, Project: Superpowers comes with the usual assortment of variant cover editions, but that’s still a remarkable performance.

The flagship of Dark Horse’s Star Wars line remains rock-solid. The three-percent drop for issue #20 is likely due to the fact that the book shipped in the last week of February, which means that no reorders are included in the number.

Conan was back in the Top 100 after six months in February – not because it was doing particularly well, but rather because not much was happening at Marvel and DC. Conan ends with issue #50 and is relaunched in June.

—–Disclaimers, et cetera

The numbers above are estimates for comic book sales in the North American direct market, as calculated by ICv2.com according to the chart and index information provided by Diamond Comic Distributors. ICv2.com’s estimates are traditionally known to be somewhat lower than the actual numbers, but they are consistent from month to month, so the trends they show are fairly accurate. Since it’s a “month-to-month” column, the comments, unless otherwise noted, are on the most recent month. The estimates from March 2001 to February 2003 (marked with an asterisk) were for initial orders rather than actual sales, so they’re only roughly compatible with the subsequent figures.

Bear in mind that the figures measure sales to retailers, not customers. Also, these numbers do not include sales to bookstores, newsstands, other mass market retail chains or the United Kingdom. Reorders are included, so long as they either reached stores in a book’s initial month of release or were strong enough to make the chart again in a subsequent month.

If additional copies of an issue did appear on the chart after the book’s initial month of release, you can see the total number of copies sold in parenthesis behind those issues (e.g. “[36,599]”). Should more than one issue have shipped in a month which is relevant for one of the long-term comparisons, the average will be used.

Titles released under the Johnny DC imprint and magazines, such as Mad, mostly sell through channels other than the direct market, so direct market sales don’t tell us much about their performance. For most Vertigo and some WildStorm titles, collection sales tend to be a significant factor, so the numbers for those books should be taken with a grain of salt as well. To learn (a little) more about Vertigo’s collection sales, go right here.

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Comments

As the author says, the DC’s periodical business in in a transitional phase, and it’s quite apparent at Vertigo. Those Vertigo numbers look pretty bad and almost unanimously trend downward. It would not be surprising to see the imprint adopt a more traditional book publishing model in the next few years – hardcovers, followed by softcovers without publishing periodicals first.

I wonder when DC’s going to finally pull the lever on Wildstorm? The entire line could go away without so much as a collective blink from the market…why waste so much money keeping this thing staggering along?

On a related note, has anyone….ever?…asked Jim Lee what he thinks about the Wildstorm imprint he started years ago disintegrating before his eyes? Or is he too busy working on All-Star Batman?

I’m not sure I’d say Superman/Batman are completely “inconsequential to the title characters’ status quo.” Sure, nothing that happens in that book has a major impact on the other monthly Superman or Batman titles, but DC’s put a lot out in terms of tying S/B to bigger events like 52 and Countdown as well as introducing core Superman/Batman ideas like a new kind of Kryptonite. I’d have to assume that a few readers are sticking around for those elements.

And I’m very interested to see if the addition of costumes and Pete Woods can help stave off the death of Infinity Inc. by a few months. It really is a pretty interesting read.

people evidently couldn’t care less about the WildStorm Universe as a fictional world.

I don’t think that’s true. If people couldn’t care less, the books wouldn’t have debuted as high as they did when the big line-wide relaunch happened. Speaking as a Wildstorm fan, I have been uniformly disappointed by every single title that came out. Either the relaunches failed to recognize what made the property appealing in the first place, or went off the rails into mediocrity shockingly quickly. I would love to read a good Gen 13 title, or a good WildCATs title. The problem is that Wildstorm isn’t publishing them.

I do agree that giving the line a break for a while and then attempting to bring it back would probably be the wisest move at this point….even as a big fan of the titles and the characters, I’m not buying Revelations, and after last month’s Gen 13 #18 I now have zero Wildstorm titles on my pull.

That’s quite a good start for the Alex Ross vehicle. It handsomely beats the debut of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s Kick-Ass at Marvel’s Icon imprint, for instance.

Now I’m only speaking for one small store in Indiana, but we sold down to 3 issues of #1 and completely out of #2 of KICK-ASS, while we have plenty of issue #0, 1, and 2 of PROJECT SUPERPOWERS. In fact, we only sold 3 copies (including the variant) out 25 of PS. I completely over estimated the demand for PS, while underestimating the demand for KICK-ASS, at least for issue #2. Just because a book was ORDERED high, doesn’t mean is SOLD high. But, again, small store in Indiana.

“The surprisingly high periodical sales of titles like this one, The Umbrella Academy, The Dark Tower or Buffy the Vampire Slayer are good news for the direct market: They suggest that there’s a considerable influx of new readers from a variety of other entertainment media.”

While I’m sure it’s partially true, I wonder what evidence there is for it (if any) and, given the way the market has existed for years, it seems doubtful it’s as large a number as suggested here. I wish Diamond or ComicsPRO would do a survey and try to figure out if there really is an influx of new readers in the DM, old lapsed readers returning, or simply current customers spending more income on more books making the increases. Given that the market is skewing older, I’d assume it’s current readers simply having more money as they age to spend on comics (most customers I see buying multiple books tend to be 35-45) as they are in a position in life to have more disposable income.

“I don’t think that’s true. If people couldn’t care less, the books wouldn’t have debuted as high as they did when the big line-wide relaunch happened.”

I’m not convinced that this had anything to do with the fact that it’s another sprawling superhero universe, though.

There still seems to be some moderate interest in some of the WildStorm Universe characters, granted. But that interest, at this stage, is little more than a hangover from the WSU books’ more successful days as a line of titles which were creator-driven, innovative and occasionally outrageous in their approach to superheroes. That aspect has been missing for years now, and what’s left is a bunch of derivative superhero properties on Earth-87.

Perhaps the sudden drop in Superman numbers coincides with the announcement that Kurt Busiek’s last issue would be #675? I suspect that was the first issue, post-announcements, where retailers could adjust numbers through FOC.

‘There still seems to be some moderate interest in some of the WildStorm Universe characters, granted. But that interest, at this stage, is little more than a hangover from the WSU books’ more successful days as a line of titles which were creator-driven, innovative and occasionally outrageous in their approach to superheroes. That aspect has been missing for years now, and what’s left is a bunch of derivative superhero properties on Earth-87. ‘

I disagree. I’ve never been a Wildstorm reader (aside from Planetary), but was attracted to the relaunches by the glimmer of coolness obvious in WildC.A.T.s and (especially) Gen13. Even my little sister is attracted to Gen13 comics on the shelf, but like me, she always puts them back when the story and artwork are uninteresting. Wildstorm’s properties have potential, but they’re poorly executed – targeted to the audience that reads Grant Morrison, not the one that reads Green Lantern – and certainly not to the mainstream.

Joe: In this context, it’s interesting to note Warren Ellis’s recent claim that when he returned to superheroes after only a few years’ break, he got a lot of e-mails from readers who had never heard of him before. Apparently the turnover of superhero readers in his absence had been a LOT faster than people normally assume, which could only happen if there was a fairly constant stream of new readers entering the direct market.

Again, I think it’s something that someone with a financial interest should be willing to spend a little money or time to figure out so we didn’t have to just go by anecdotes- or better yet, one of the many comics-interested college students looking for ideas for a term paper could look into it, especially one studying statistics and marketing.

One thing I have found irritating with Spirit and Jonah Hex in particular, is that the writer artist team sems to change month by month. One issue of Spirit that I preordered had a beautiful Jordi Bernet cover, Aragones writing and Ploog drawing the interior. I happily bought that issue, singing “la la la la”.
Then, according to my somewhat shaky recollection of a quick peruse of Previews, the next issue was to have Aragones writing, and someone else entirely drawing it., not Ploog Forget it.

Same with another sales plunger, Jonah Hex. Jordi Bernet draws an issue, I happily buy it, singing… ( well, you know the rest). Then, someone else draws it for a month or two, and I back off and save my $3.

Wait! There seems to be a pattern to my buying. So it’s MY fault that sales are dropping!!

DC really needs to do something about THE FLASH, because the first issue by Tom Peyer was another creative disappointment. If they had just lined up a talented creative team to directly pick up where Geoff Johns and Howard Porter left off, instead of going with the wasteful “Bart becomes The Flash” relaunch and the embarrassing “Wally’s family as The Incredibles” concept, the title probably wouldn’t be in this mess.

Personally, I’d suggest collapsing the upcoming THE FLASH: ROGUES REVENGE mini-series by Geoff Johns/Scott Kolins into the regular FLASH title, which would give the monthly series a boost and give DC a little time to find a solid replacement team for Tom Peyer and Freddie Williams II.

More than a third of all of our Buffy, Angel, Serenity, Dark Tower, and Umbrella Academy customers here were people that had never bought comics before.

We have managed to turn roughly 30% of those new customers into readers of other titles as well, with Runaways and Fables being the top titles they have added. While I’m not expecting many of them to start buying Amazing Spider-Man anytime soon, we’re doing what we can to maintain their interest in the medium.

I’m a big, BIG Flash fan. Flash has been a part of my comics-buying life since 1977.

And I’m beginning to think they should just hold off for a year or so. Publish Rogues’ Revenge without competition/distraction of a monthly Flash book. Give various proposals time and attention, and then launch Flash big, a la Rebirth.

Breaks my heart, but it might be best for the book.

But whatever they do, I’d appreciate it if they could do it without killing off my favorite characters.

In regards to the Titans books currently swamping the market, I am really starting to enjoy McKeever’s run on Teen Titans and I’ve also surprisingly enjoyed the Titans: Year One book, too. I’m not too thrilled about the upcoming Winnick Titans book, though (but not because it’s Winnick, just to be clear). I’ve heard the book described as being like the TV show “Friends” but with the original Titans. Ugh. I’m a big fan of the original line-up, but for some reason I just can’t seem to get excited about this book. I should be excited, but for some reason I’m not. What’s the purpose of bringing this line-up back in their own title? BTW, the ads for the book completely spoiled some of the Countdown related stories, like Starfire and her powers, Donna Troy making it out of Countdown, etc.

They’re great characters, but it seems like this has been done before (a few times). I think it’s time they graduate to the JLA or strike out on their own. Can they just leave Nightwing alone, please? He never really fit with the Outsiders IMHO.

What would be interesting is for these characters to team up and take a different direction in fighting crime, maybe. Not like the Outsiders, but maybe play it up like they are role models and what they do as a team has consequeces for the average person. Maybe they could strip it all down and become more of a community based crime fighting unit, like the guardian angels, but with powers. Or maybe I’m just high.

Anyhoo . . .

As for WSU, I’m intrested in what could be. I missed the Authority, StromWatch and all those books when they were popular in the 90’s, so I’d love to read something that has a different take on th superhero genre and is willing to push the limits (like The Boys). Sounds like it would be a good opportunity for some writers to take their frustrations out and really let loose with no holds barred, but in a really smart way. If they could execute on this, I would be buying WSU books.

I find it interesting that so many people (on the net, at least) complain about event fatigue while a title like Brave & the Bold, a stand alone old school superhero series with fan favorite creators, is performing so poorly. It’s one of the only DC titles I buy, partly because it has absolutely nothing to do with Crisis/Countdown (but mostly because I think it’s very well written and drawn). I’d hate to see it cancelled but it seems inevitable.

There hasn’t been a new Freddy, Jason or Ash movie in what, over a decade and more people are buying THAT book than Blue Beetle.

To be honest, these numbers are depressing. More so because really, I love DC. I love their characters, I love most of their talent pool. Geoff Johns is always on his A-Game, George Perez, Grant Morrison, Mark Waid, Jerry Ordway, Jim Shooter, Marv Wolfman… the wealth is there so the question remains, What’s going on here?

I believe there’s a negative, toxic air around DC as a brand. People aren’t picking up books, they’re dropping them and the reason is clear: People are unhappy with the direction of the company line.

I give them credit for trying but let’s be honest, most of the things they’ve hyped within the last few years either didn’t live up to the hype or didn’t live at all (as in, didn’t deliver). Sales were good on Identity Crisis, Infinite Crisis but many left disappointed. One Year Later dead less than eight months later. WW Action and ASBR? Many say delays don’t kill sales and in special cases, maybe not but we’ve now seen otherwise for the rest of the unspecial majority. Most of this leaves a bad taste in most consumers mouths…

Speaking of bad taste, who can say they didn’t see the Flash disaster coming?

52 was a success but from there spun 52 new universes. 25 Years ago, it was felt 5 Earths were too much for audiences so they have this Crisis which consoldates them into one. Today, DC feels audiences are over that. But heck, why stop at 5? Why not 52 new earths? From there, a Countdown To (yes!) Final Crisis (so we can undo the mess we just created? Who knows…) which will be the ‘spine’ of the DCU.

Guys, if Countdown to Final Crisis is the ‘spine’ of the DCU, then sadly, the DCU needs a wheelchair.

Yes, it’s all been part of a grand plan from the very beginning (when, Identity Crisis? Infinite Crisis?) but if its proven that readers are upset when their book is delayed 6 months to see a story’s conclusion, who in their right mind would believe a reader’s attention can be held for 5-6 years to see a story reach its conclusion. Has DC’s line become Lost? The Sopranos?

The general direction affects the company line. But when the company line already suffers from a 3 year old toxic stink so bad, people aren’t buying the books no matter who is on it, that says there is a contagion in DC as a brand, a community and its infecting all DC homes in the neighborhood.

They may seriously want to reconsider their direction. They have a wonderful library of characters with amazing potential. If not for readers, then for the characters who deserve better.

The Problem with readers not coming back after a stint away from comics is that when ever there’s relaunch of a title its a good place to stop at the last issue and start filling in back-issue holes in your collection. Remember in the 80’s you could jump onto title and slowly get involved. There’s no point in starting a comic with issue #14 because you feel you missed the boat already. This is a major problem with DC at the moment. Sales trend show that a relaunch loses its appeal after about 6-12 months and you’re back to your old sale numbers, while recking the run. Eg. WWoman. GArrow, JLA JSA, LOTHDK, etc……

Brian: “More than a third of all of our Buffy, Angel, Serenity, Dark Tower, and Umbrella Academy customers here were people that had never bought comics before.”

I’ve heard some anecdotal reports, but it never hurts to get more input from retailers. The unexpectedly high numbers of those books certainly suggest that the bulk of their audience aren’t traditional direct-market readers.

Two other factors which I think are worth considering are the turnover effect Paul mentions, as well as the return of lapsed direct-market readers via events like “Civil War” or “The Death of Captain America.” Overall, the direct market seems surprisingly healthy right now.

Thanks for writing about the first-month sales on collections like Crossing Midnight v2 and Scalped v2. Those stats help me understand financial decisions. I’d like to see more of this, even with good sellers.

4) I’d refocus Action Comics and Detective Comics to tell 1-shot stories for Superman and Batman, respectively. Leave the multi-part stories to their named titles.

5) I’d axe Superman/Batman. Team-ups would be done in their solo titles.

6) I’d axe Green Lantern Corps and let the characters and plots be absorbed into the parent title.

7) I’d axe The Legion of Super-Heroes and enact a rule in the DCU that the future doesn’t exist. The present is far as the universe has gotten.

8) I’d absorb the WildStorm and Vertigo characters into the DCU and ditch the imprints.

9) I’d let all miniseries finish up and then not do any for around a year.

10) I’d allow a maximum of 1 issue per title per month. If an issue misses a month, no playing catch-up.

11) I’d keep all of the cancelations a secret and simply put a black banner on the top of the front cover of every axed DCU title with the word “BLOODBATH” (in red font, dripping red) on it, giving readers the impression that some kind of Big Event is going on (which it is; it’s called mass-cancelation).

12) I’d put out a 1-shot special in the month after all of the canceled titles are gone called “THE DUST SETTLES: BLOODBATH AFTERMATH”. It’s be an overview of the DCU as it currently stands, giving basic introductions to the characters. The dust would literally be starting to settle at that point, since readers would be looking for other titles to pick up, and we’d get to see which titles gain readers in the months ahead.

13) I’d wait a few months, then I’d axe every title (excluding Johnny DC) that fell below #100 on the monthly sales chart thereafter, giving the characters only occasional miniseries or 1-shots to keep their existing readers happy.

Right. Catwoman, Checkmate, Blue Beetle, Atom, Spirit, Jonah Hex and others…cancelled. Because god forbid, we can’t allow small groups of people to be happy. Everything has to be a high-selling book or it’s obviously unworthy of publication.

I also love how you’d totally wipe out Vertigo. Because clearly low sales mean low quality and a book that isn’t worthy of publication.

Actually, look at the July solicits… Atom is cancelled. Blue Beetle and Jonah Hex are hanging on thanks to trade sales (even though their monthly sales are worse than the Atom). Not sure what the status of the Spirit, Checkmate, and Catwoman is.